The Guy Fawkes Night also known as Bonfire Night (the night of bonfires ), Cracker Night or Fireworks Night (the night of the fireworks ), is a celebration that takes place mainly in the UK the night of November 5 .
The celebration commemorates the failure of the November 5, 1605 attack, known as the Gunpowder Conspiracy , in which a faction of Catholics , including Guy Fawkes , attempted to destroy the Palace of Westminster , the seat of Parliament in London
Origin of the Guy Fawkes party
A Fawkes figure, burned on November 5, 2010 in Billericay .
"Guy Fawkes Night" originates from the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a failed conspiracy by a group of provincial English Catholics to assassinate the Protestant King James I of England and VI of Scotland and replace him with a Catholic head of state. Immediately after the November 5 arrest of Guy Fawkes , caught guarding a cache of explosives placed below the House of Lords , the Council of James allowed the public to celebrate the king's survival with bonfires, as long as they were held "without any danger or disorder. " 2 For which 1605 was the first year in which the failure of the plot was celebrated. 3The following January, days before the surviving conspirators were executed, Parliament passed the November 5 Enforcement Act , commonly known as the "Thanksgiving Act." It was proposed by a Puritan member of Parliament, Edward Montagu , who suggested that the apparent salvation of the king by divine intervention deserved some measure of official recognition, and was set November 5 off as a day of thanksgiving, while in theory it made church attendance compulsory. 4 A new form of service was also added to the Church of England Book of Common Prayer , for use on that date. 5
Little is known about the first celebrations. In settlements like Carlisle , Norwich, and Nottingham , city governments provided music and artillery salutes. Canterbury celebrated on November 5, 1607 with 48 kg of gunpowder and 6.4 kg of phosphorus, and three years later food and drink were provided for local dignitaries, as well as music, explosions and a parade of the local militia. Even less is known of how the occasion was first commemorated by the general public, although records indicate that a sermon was read in the Protestant fortress of Dorchester , church bells sounded, and bonfires and fireworks were lit. 6
In the east of England, from 1605, it was obligatory by decree, to celebrate the salvation of the king. 7 The celebration included fireworks displays and the building of bonfires on which the guys burned , dolls bearing the effigy of Guy Fawkes, the best known of all the conspirators of 1605. On the eve of November 5, the children they used the guys to ask for money.